Jar of Hearts
by slytheringirl55
Summary: Songfic! After Dimitri told her his love faded he starts dating Tasha but not all is what it seems...


Love fades. Mine has.

_His _words repeated themselves in my head like a broken record playing over and over torturing me a bit more each time they echoed.

I could see why he would be hesitant to be with me after all, he did try to kill me and I did try to kill him. What I did not see coming was that he would go after Natasha Ozera. I thought when he said those fateful words in the church that he meant love in general, not just his love toward me.

I couldn't stand to see them walking around court hand in hand all lovey dovey… made me physically sick. I didn't know how much more my poor heart could take. The first time was bad enough…and now after everything we've been through, I couldn't believe he'd leave me for her. He'd said he'd always be there for me, he lied.

What made things worse was with Lissa knowing about me and Dimitri…she supported their relationship as if my feelings didn't matter. As my best friend I expected her to at least set up some sort of protest but no she'd betrayed me…she'd told me I needed to back off…to let him live his life, even if it meant he would be with Tasha and not with me.

I could understand where she was coming from but at the same time I couldn't stop the feelings of betrayal that arose every time I saw all of them together as if I never existed. Dimitri smiling and cuddling with Tasha made my heart break a bit more each time.

What about Adrian you ask? We'd broken up soon after Dimitri's rejection. I knew in my heart that I could never love anyone the way I loved…love…Dimitri, even if he is with someone else. So I'd talked to Adrian and we agreed that it would be best if we were just friends. That way, we salvaged our relationship without either one of us being too hurt. He said he'd always known something like this would happen and that he would be there for me and love me forever, even if he was just my best friend seeing as Lissa wasn't being much of a best friend these days.

"Adrian, I CAN'T TAKE IT! How could he leave me for HER! I love him and he's thrown it in my face more times than I can count. Why doesn't he see that I love him? Why did he have to choose her?" I ranted as Adrian and I sat at a café watching the "Fantastic Four", as Adrian had taken to calling them, through one of the windows. For a second Dimitri turned and our eyes locked and instantly it was the connection that we've had since the moment we met and a chill went down my spine. He held my gaze for a couple of seconds and I could see love and regret in his eyes it was gone the moment Tasha turned and cuddled into him. I could see him tense and swiftly move out of the way. Tasha gave him a confused look but he shrugged and looked my way again.

Tasha turned to look at me and smirked then pulled Dimitri down into a kiss that made me want to go and punch her in the face. Dimitri pushed her off and stood up before looking my way again and coming towards the café Adrian and I were sitting in. Adrian by this point was laughing his ass off as if what he'd just witnessed was the most hilarious thing in the world.

As Dimitri stepped through the door, I pulled Adrian up and walked away from the table and from Dimitri. I turned to look at Dimitri just once and I saw hurt, regret, and love all mixed in his eyes. With a soft sigh I turned and pulled Adrian along with me until we got to his room. Through the bond I could feel Lissa's confusion and anger at both Dimitri's actions and mine.

_Rose what's going on? Why did he leave after Tasha kissed him? Why was he looking at you? Why did he go after you and why on earth would you walk away? Maybe he's changed his mind and wants you back! He's probably realized that he's totally in love with you and realized his mistake! You should go talk to him!_

I ignored Lissa's message as I closed the door to Adrian's room. I headed straight for the kitchen and poured myself a drink. I turned to Adrian and asked him if he wanted one too. He nodded and I poured him a shot of Vodka. We toasted and drank down our shots. He studied me for a couple of seconds before saying "He still loves you, you know. My guess is the whole thing with Tasha was an attempt at a distraction…if what happened today was any indication; he feels nothing but friendship toward Tasha. You should have seen his aura when she kissed him…it was a light show…all different colors but none were the bright red and pink that exploded when he looked at you. What made me laugh was Tasha's aura. Hers was green with envy and jealousy toward you after he pushed her away, not once but twice. Rose…if he looks for you to talk to you, give him a chance...let him explain himself before you make your final decision about him. I know you still love him Little Dhampir; your aura can't lie to me. Yours was as colorful as Dimitri's but the most prominent colors were pink and red, just like his."

I couldn't breathe for a couple of seconds and I couldn't tell if it was because of the Vodka or because of what Adrian was telling me. Could Dimitri really love me even after he'd told me his love had faded?

"Adrian, you know I love him. But how do I know he won't up and leave me again. How do I know he won't change his mind and go with Tasha again? Adrian, I couldn't stand if he did that to me again. I would die if he did that to me again. As much as I love him, I have to think about my heart." I sighed softly and leaned against the counter before feeling Lissa calling me through the bond.

_Rose! Where are you please! I need to talk to you! Please I'm so sorry I've been such a bad friend I've got a lot of explaining to do and I'm hoping that you'll hear me out. Please!_

I looked at Adrian and he was staring at me with a confused look on his face. I told him what Lissa had said and before I walked out, he pulled me softly and gave me a hug. "Call me if you need anything Little Dhampir. Remember what I told you," he said softly before planting a kiss on my forehead and pushing me out the door and closing it in my face.

"Hey that's not nice Adrian!" I yelped at the closed door. From behind the door I heard Adrian laugh loudly. I smiled my first true smile in a while and I walked away in search of Lissa. Through the bond, I could tell she was outside my room waiting to see if I'd talk to her.

There was no avoiding this conversation now. I could completely ignore her and go somewhere else but I wanted to go to my room and having an uncomfortable conversation with Lissa was not going to keep me from my room. As I rounded the corner, I overheard a bit of angry conversation between two people I really was trying my best to avoid.

"How can you love her? She's nothing but a blood whore!" I heard Tasha screech at Dimitri. I wanted to go see what was going on but Dimitri's words stopped me short.

"Don't you dare call her that Natasha! You know damn well that I love her. That I've loved her from the very beginning and I will not tolerate your petty jealousy disrespecting her." I heard him say and I couldn't help the smile that came to my face.

"But Dimitri, what about us…don't you love me?" I heard her say pathetically.

"You know I don't Natasha. This "relationship" was a pathetic attempt on my part to forget the love of my life, my soul mate, and being with you is just not working. I don't love you Natasha, you're nothing more than a friend to me, I'm sorry," I heard him say and my heart soared. I'd heard it from him not from anyone else.

I heard his duster move and I was about to turn and walk away when I heard Tasha grab him and say "You will tell Rose nothing of your feelings and you will stay with me. You love me, not that blood whore."

I gasped and looked around the corner once more. That BITCH! She was using compulsion on him! I was about to step in when I heard Dimitri say the words that crushed my heart again, even if I knew he was under compulsion, the words still hurt. He said he loved her and that I was nothing more than his play thing and blood whore.

I ran. I couldn't stand there and listen to their bullshit. I ran all the way to my room completely forgetting that Lissa was there. I literally ran into her because I couldn't see because of the tears streaming down my face. I looked up and Lissa's face told me all I needed to know. She knew something about what was going on and she was going to help me get to the bottom of it.

She ushered me into my room and firmly closed and locked the door behind us. I told her everything that happened, starting at the café, then the conversation with Adrian, and finally what I just witnessed and the compulsion.

She was shocked and then she came up with a plan to expose the truth. I was to pretend to be dating someone from court, Adrian more like it, and Dimitri's jealousy should snap him right out of his compulsion. As the details of the plan fell into place, there was a knock on the door. Lissa went to open the door and yelled with excitement. Confused I looked up and saw Mia standing at the door to my room. Ever since she and Eddie had started going out, she'd been hanging out with us a bit less and I felt like I hadn't talked to her in ages.

She knew about Dimitri and I of course and our twisted love triangle involving Natasha Ozera. I told her about everything that had happened that day and she agreed with the plan. All of a sudden she yelped and said, "I forgot to tell you guys! I've got a great idea! I just heard that there will be a Karaoke contest later today and I'm going to go sign up! We NEED some girl time and we need some fun! The guys will probably go too but I'm calling it a girls' night out and we're going to have fun!"

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. She was definitely right I needed some fun and hopefully throughout this whole thing I could talk to Dimitri about the compulsion I'd seen Tasha do on him and how I KNOW he loves me. I couldn't wait!

"Let's all get ready here! That way we can go over the songs we want to sing! You and Lissa can go get your outfits ready and we meet back here in 30 minutes to do our hair and makeup!" I said and they agreed. They left shortly after that to go get their stuff ready.

While I was in the shower I thought of the contest and I figured why not write my own song and make Dimitri see how much he hurt me. I jumped out of the shower and threw on some clothes and wrote the melody and lyrics that were in my head.

When Lissa and Mia came back I showed them the song and they agreed it would help bring Dimitri out of the compulsion so the other plan was now Plan B in case my song didn't work. As we were getting ready, there was a knock on the door and it was Dimitri and Tasha. She had a smug look on her face and as I stood there Dimitri told me what she told him to say, verbatim. For a second it looked like he was confused as to what he was saying but the moment was gone as soon as Tasha pulled him down and kissed him.

Lissa was pissed off, I could tell so what she did next kind of shocked me but not really since I could tell how pissed off she was. She walked right up to Tasha and punched her in the face. Dimitri blinked a couple of times as if trying to clear his head before looking horrified at me and then at Lissa's angry face.

"I'm so sorry Roza…I…I don't know what happened one thing I'm looking at you through the window at the café and wanting to go tell you I still love you with all of my heart and the next thing I remember is talking to Tasha. What happened?"

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend Guardian Belikov? She can tell you exactly what happened, can't you Natasha?" Lissa said with disgust before slamming the door closed. I couldn't help it I squealed like a little girl! I was so excited I had my best friend back to normal!

I threw my hands around her and Mia came over and joined our hug! Our plan was firmly put in place and now that Dimitri was out of his compulsion I could use that song to tell him just how much he hurt me but explain that he'd hurt me but I'd talk to him after and tell him I understood. I felt that with the song I could express my feelings for him and our love without being too emotional. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready and before we left to the bar where the contest was being held we called Christian, Adrian, and Eddie and they said that they would meet us there.

Sure enough by the time we got to the bar, all three guys were sitting there…including Tasha and Dimitri. Perfect. Christian had invited them…which all panned out for my plan.

"Ladies and gents, how are we doing this evening? Everyone ready for the contest?" yelled the DJ and Mia and Lissa yelled. I was still kind of weirded out by the fact that Dimitri was sitting right across the table from me. His eyes burned into my soul but I was snapped out of our moment by the DJ calling my name.

Slowly I walked up to the piano Lissa had specifically ordered be set up for me.

I looked right at Dimitri and started playing my song.

_I know I can't take one more step towards you  
Cause all that's waiting is regret  
And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore  
You lost the love I loved the most_

I learned to live half a life  
And now you want me one more time

And who do you think you are  
Running 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
So don't come back for me  
Who do you think you are  


_I hear you're asking all around  
If I am anywhere to be found  
But I have grown too strong  
To ever fall back in your arms_

I learned to live half a life  
And now you want me one more time

And who do you think you are  
Running 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
So don't come back for me  
Who do you think you are

And it took so long just to feel alright  
Remember how to put back the light in my eyes  
I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed  
Cause you broke all your promises  
And now you're back  
You don't get to get me back

And who do you think you are  
Running 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
Don't come back for me  
Don't come back at all

And who do you think you are  
Running 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
Don't come back for me  
Don't come back at all

Who do you think you are  
Who do you think you are  
Who do you think you are

As I sang my song, I couldn't help but look Dimitri right in the eye. In that one second I saw the love he felt for me and the regret of his actions when he was Strigoi and when he turned back culminating in him dating Tasha. I looked at Lissa and Mia who had both heard it before but never expected it to be so heartfelt and emotional when directed at the love of my life.

I looked at Adrian and he looked a bit sad but one look at Tasha made him laugh his butt off again. I didn't need the ability to read auras to know that she was pissed off and jealous, the look on her face was enough. I started laughing seeing Lissa and Adrian exchange a knowing glance before Dimitri came up to me and kissed me in front of the whole bar.

I heard wolf whistles and catcalls but I didn't break the kiss and neither did Dimitri. After a couple of seconds we broke apart and looked over at the table where my friends were sitting at. Tasha's glare was murderous and within a matter of seconds, my body was engulfed in flames. Dimitri was at a loss as to what to do so he charged at Tasha and knocked her out. Christian was looking at his aunt horrified, Mia had pretty much passed out, Eddie was with Dimitri trying to subdue the angry Russian, while Adrian and Lissa ran towards me faster than I thought possible for both Moroi.

They both healed my injuries and I was up and walked over to Dimitri and hugged him tight. He pulled me closer and placed a kiss on my forehead right before the guardians came in. They saw a Royal Moroi on the floor with a guardian standing above her and the rest of the people at the bar in a shocked silence.

"What the hell happened here? Why is there a Royal knocked out?" asked the head guardian while looking around at everyone in close proximity.

Lissa stepped up and asked the guardian his name.

"Guardian Richards, Princess Dragomir, at your service," he said with a bow.

"Guardian Richards, what happened here is that Lady Ozera attacked Guardian Hathaway with her magic and Guardian Belikov acted out of love for his bonded soul mate. He attacked Lady Ozera once he saw Rose on fire. On top of using magic illegally, Lady Ozera has been using compulsion on Guardian Belikov and me to keep him in a relationship against his will and on me to turn against my best friend and guardian, Rose." Lissa said while looking at Guardian Richards.

Guardian Richards nodded and bowed respectfully toward Lissa before turning to Eddie who was holding a now conscious Tasha. "Guardian Castile, please handcuff Ms. Ozera and cover her eyes with a blindfold so she won't use compulsion on you too. Guardian Belikov, I understand your reaction therefore no charges will be brought up on you."

With that said, he turned and led the guardians out of the bar.

"Let's get out of here…I've had enough drama tonight to last me a life time. Let's go back to my room and party there," said Adrian and we all nodded following him out of the bar.

Once in his room I turned and asked Lissa what she meant by bonded soul mates. She went on to explain that after bringing Dimitri back, her Spirit abilities got stronger so like Adrian, she could see auras and ours was ringed in gold, signifying that we were bonded soul mates. Why she and Adrian had never mentioned it before was beyond me. I guess that because of Tasha's compulsion, Lisa's abilities were off as well as Dimitri's aura. Dimitri wrapped his arms around me and kissed me softly.

I looked at Adrian and he nodded encouragingly before pulling out a bottle of champagne from his stock. He popped it open and served everyone a drink and then said a toast.

"To Rose and Dimitri, may their love continue to grow!"

"To Rose and Dimitri!" said my friends and each took a sip from their champagne flutes, everyone except Christian.

I noticed he hadn't said much and Lissa was getting increasingly worried, I could feel it through the bond.

I gave Dimitri a soft kiss on the lips and walked over to Lissa and Christian.

I caught the end of their hushed conversation and pulled Christian into a tight hug. "Christian, what Tasha did was not your fault. NEVER think that. You are like a brother to me and I won't have you blaming yourself for something that is not your fault. I love you Christian!" I said and noticed he had a couple of tears running down his face.

"She was the only family I had left, how could she do that! I'm so sorry Rose. You are like my sister as well and the thought of you hurt because of my aunt …the thought of Lissa being under her compulsion disgusts me," he said as Lissa came over and hugged him too.

"You have me and Rose and Dimitri and Adrian and Eddie and Mia. We're your family too Christian and we all love you!" Lissa yelled and suddenly we were all on the floor under a pile of bodies in a giant group hug. We were on the floor for a couple of seconds before we all started laughing.

"We love you Christian! No homo!" yelled Eddie from somewhere to my left. This caused us to laugh even harder. By the time we were done laughing, we all had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard. How we went from heartbreak to making up and laughing in one day was beyond me but it felt good to be this carefree with my family again.

We all got up and reached for our glasses again and I said "To love and family" before drinking my champagne. We spent the rest of the night laughing and reminiscing about good times and bad but most of all we were thankful for the group of friends, of family that we each had. We were a bunch of misfits that came together and nothing would tear us apart again.

A.N. I got this idea after hearing the Chorus for this song on my way home from school this afternoon. The song is Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri. I don't own the song and I don't own the characters just the plot.


End file.
